close to this very spot,
science bore a child that changed
the course of human relations...
and to this day
threatens to end human history.
It was called, innocuously
enough, the Manhattan Project.
And it grew into the terror we all have
come to know as the hydrogen b*mb.
But this year, only a stone's throw
from here, science delivered a new child.
November , : a.m.
Dr. Jules Copenik,
Ph.D. in experimental biology...
and codirector of related research at
Oceanic International Oil Corporation...
returned to his place of employ
after a month-long absence.
He had been attending a world
ecology conference in Helsinki...
and came right to his lab
after debarking a plane.
Dr. Copenik was homesick for the lab and
the equipment that was under his control.
And it was this fastidious devotion to
his work that cut off his life at age .
: a.m. I was just arriving
home from a rather late supper...
when the call came over
my police radio.
We got a call from the company's security
department early this morning, about :.
- How's it going, Nils?
- One of their men found the body at dawn.
- Just giving a statement now.
- We immediately cordoned off the whole facility...
- They don't want us photographing the body.
- and found nobody.
- Why not? Did you ask?
- Nobody who didn't belong.
Why don't you want us
photographing the body?
I prefer not to make a
complete statement at this time.
I'd rather stick to the physical details of
the crime, if you don't mind, Mr. Kolchak.
Oh, yeah, sure, sure, sure. Absolutely. It's
perfectly okay with me. You go right on ahead.
You go on ahead. Uh, somebody told me
that it was kind of a messy death, right?
Ever see one that wasn't?
Well, that's it, gentlemen.
- Where's my print man?
- Where's his arm?
Gone like both of yours are gonna be
if you don't keep your hands off things.
Was his arm severed, Captain?
Where is it?
Severed? Listen, it was pulled out
of its socket like an old turkey leg.
- I don't understand it.
- Hold it. Hold it.
Dr. Jules Copenik was m*rder*d.
He was badly beaten.
We don't have
any suspects as yet.
The coroner's report will
be posted later sometime today.
Captain, where's the arm?
We don't know.
You mean the k*ller
took the arm with him? Why?
- Who can answer that question?
- How was access gained by the K*llers?
How did they slip past
the company's guard?
- No comment.
- Well, how about motive? Any ideas?
- No comment, Mr. Kolchak.
- No ideas.
No ideas.
Phew! Phew!
- Come outta there, Kolchak.
- What is this, a freezer?
- What does it look like?
- It looks like a freezer.
But it's so hot and damp and humid in
here, you could steam littleneck clams.
- Well, it's out of order.
- Yeah, it stinks too.
- It smells of mildew. Phew!
- Maybe it's your undershirt.
- Could be your jokes.
- Out.
Ever try to deal
with a giant corporation?
They transfer your call here.
They transfer it there.
They put you on hold.
You're out in the cold.
Oceanic International Oil
was all that and more.
They finally let me off the merry-go-round
at the office of Thomas J. Kitzmiller,
vice president in charge of Public Relations.
Excuse me.
Yes.
Yes, well, tell him L'étoile
will be fine for lunch.
Well, then tell his secretary.
No, Chinese food is fine
if it's good food. I, uh...
Shall I meet him there then?
He wants to pick me up?
No, no, no, no, no, no. You call him
right back and tell him I will pick him up.
Thank you. Thank you.
You were talking about
Dr. Copenik and what he was doing.
Ah, here is what
O.I.O. is doing.
- In the nation, in the ghetto...
- And around the world.
Exactly, around the world. I
don't have to tell you about Alaska.
Vast new discoveries.
Our startling success there...
has encouraged us
to press on even further north,
even north
of Prince Patrick Island.
Really? You mean, you're
drilling that far north up there?
Gets so frozen, so stiff up there that
even the penguins wear thermal underwear.
Well, regardless,
O.I.O. has mounted and sent...
a very, very big and most expensive
expedition up there for test drilling.
- Uh-huh, yeah. Thank you.
- At great corporate expense.
Uh, well, did you find any oil?
Well, that's... that's
not the point, Mr. Kolchak.
We don't just drill for oil
on a hit or a miss basis.
- See, we bring back what we call cores.
- Cores.
And, uh, we show them to our scientists, our
geologists, and they analyze them for traces.
Now, if the traces are
encouraging, then we drill for oil.
Uh-huh, and that's what
Dr. Copenik was doing, testing cores.
Exactly. He was working
with samples of material...
taken from cores frozen
for perhaps thousands,
- maybe millions of years.
- Millions.
Now, I don't consider that to be a dangerous
or v*olence-prone occupation, do you?
Well, that depends on what he
was testing for. Wouldn't you agree?
Yeah, and then again, of course,
you know, you work for an oil company.
And a lot of people have had
it up to here with high prices...
and bad air and seagulls
just overloaded with gunk.
Well, I... Well, there are always a
few misguided and sick individuals...
who like to take out their personal
frustrations against essentially blameless...
but, nonetheless,
vulnerable institutions.
Thankfully, O.I.O. is not
a very likely target.
I mean, our contribution to the
community welfare is well-known.
- Mm-hmm.
- However, Dr. Copenik, he's an even less likely target.
I mean, he was merely a, well, a hard-working
researcher in charge of his own section.
- Which was what exactly?
- Biology.
- Biology.
- Not one of our largest.
I mean, its application to oil
wasn't as direct nor as...
Nor as great
as the geological sciences.
But that was one of the main
reasons for having such a section.
You see, to give people
like Jules Copenik...
the environment and the funding to do
whatever they wanted to do, whatever it was.
I see. And, uh, of course, you
never turned a penny profit on it.
- Well, I-I didn't say that.
- Uh-huh.
Naturally, if our biologists were to
turn up something that could profit O.I.O.,
yes, we would accept that, but
it wasn't absolutely necessary.
Oh, well, that makes me feel good.
You know, real warm down inside.
Tell me, how was everything
in the biology section?
I mean, I guess everybody there was
feeling pretty good, happy, very content.
A sense of well-being.
Happy as clams. Hmm?
As far as I know there are
no serious disagreements.
But you see,
that entire section, uh,
consists only of Dr. Copenik
and, uh, his assistant Helen Lynch.
Helen Lynch.
Where could I...
Where could I find Helen Lynch?
Helen Lynch was in an automobile
accident several weeks ago.
And she's in a hospital
in Springfield,
trying very hard to recuperate.
And I suggest that
we let her do just that.
Excuse me.
- Yes.
- Hello.
Yes. Oh, yes, yes.
Uh, Friday about
Allright. I'll make a note of that. Fine.
Will, uh, lunch be involved?
Okay.
Oh, I'm sure I can.
Fine.
Hey, Tony, what's new?
That's why I've got reporters,
to tell me what's new.
Yeah, well, I'm on this Copenik thing,
Tony, and something is very, very odd.
That Copenik thing, is that the case you
started covering at : a.m. this morning?
- Yeah.
- "Jules Copenik, age ."
Yeah, that's right, Tony. I just
picked up the coroner's report, see?
Yeah, "Death caused
by massive hemorrhaging...
uh, due in part to cranial
and torso blows induced by a"...
- "Probably a blunt instrument."
- Yeah, that's right, Tony. Yeah, yeah, right, right.
"However, severest hemorrhaging
resulting from"...
"A severed right arm,
no doubt."
Yeah, that's right.
"Also noted were superficial gouges
of the type that might be made by a"...
"A garden hand weeder."
It'll happen every time.
Yeah, that's right. How'd you know?
Voilà, la story, Carl.
It's old cabbage.
It's already been chewed up
by all the other news services.
Well, Tony,
let them have the cabbage.
We here at I.N.S. will feast
on journalistic fillet mignon.
- Where's Ron?
- Out to lunch.
Yeah, well, that goes without
saying. What else is new?
Listen, I'm very serious. There's
something very strange going on at O.I.O.
Now, I don't think anyone
came in there just to k*ll Copenik.
And there was nothing,
but nothing, stolen.
- Except a severed arm.
- Yeah, well... Hi, Ron.
Well, where did you have your
lunch? Saskatoon, Canada?
I spent half an hour
driving around the block,
trying to find a parking space.
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry
about that, Ron.
Did you take care of those
phone calls I asked you to make?
Our agreement on the phone
was that I would make the calls...
- if you would promise not to park in my space.
- That's right.
Already you've broken it.
It's incredible.
Well, I'm sorry about that, Ron. I
really am. It's a very bad habit of mine.
And I will try
my doggonedest to break it.
Please do, or next time
I will call a tow truck.
- You wouldn't do that.
- Yes, I would.
You mean, you'd call a tow truck
and have my car hauled away?
I mean it.
Mt. Olivet Hospital.
You mean it.
- Now where're you going, Carl?
- Springfield.
To cover some hot news,
like the Lincoln-Douglas debate?
Terrific.
I'm sorry, Mr. Kolchak.
You cannot see Helen Lynch.
- What, is she unconscious?
- No, she is not.
But then she's not up to answering
questions about this m*rder either.
You know, I bet the people at
O.I.O. are just very concerned...
that she not be upset by
members of the press, am I right?
- Yes, you are. Is there anything wrong in that?
- Certainly not, Of course not.
Why, their hearts are as big
as their profits this year.
What... What was it up to,
% or something like that?
That is no concern of mine. My
only concern is with my patient.
- Yes.
- You cannot see her, and that's final.
Absolutely. Whatever you
say, Doc. Whatever you say.
What room are you... Hello?
- Uh, what room are you going to?
- Uh, .
- Could I help you?
- Oh, thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- Right down this way.
Thank you.
It's right over here.
Dr. Lynch?
Uh, Carl Kolchak.
Independent News Service.
See?
Please, Mr...
Kolchak.
I've already told the police
everything that I know.
Yeah, but the trouble is, you see, the police
don't tell anybody else what they know,
and then people begin
to form their own ideas.
I've had a call from our Public
Relations Department, and I have been...
Mr. Kitzmiller, and he told you
not to talk to reporters, right?
- That's right.
- That's right. See what I mean?
Now, who wouldn't begin to form
ideas with all this secrecy around?
Did he tell you why
you shouldn't talk to reporters?
- Just that it would be best.
- Now, you're a scientist.
Now, does that seem very much
like an empirical reason to you?
Hmm?
There is nothing to tell.
I mean, there really
is nothing to tell.
Jules was just a very nice man.
A very nice man.
He had a sense of humor, and
he hated uproar and controversy.
Now he's been m*rder*d.
That's all there is to it.
Well, what about these cores
from the Arctic?
I mean, is there any reason
anybody would want to...
stop work on them
or ruin the experiment?
The scientific
community is hardly...
- the court of the Borgias, Mr. Kolchak.
- Well...
Our discoveries were important
from a biochemical point of view.
They were remarkable. But no
reason for anyone to... wield a hatchet.
- What was in those cores?
- Cells. Frozen cells.
You mean, it's remarkable that
you'd find frozen cells in the Arctic?
No, but they were
millions of years old.
And when we thawed them, they
started to exhibit biological function.
Biological function.
- You mean, they... they came to life?
- You could say that.
What did they do
after they came to life?
What cells do... they reproduced.
Not exactly what you'd call high
adventure, but very interesting.
Very. How did they...
Well...
Berwick, would you and John
come in here for a moment, please?
I told this man
not to come in this room.
And here he is.
Hi, fellas.
: p.m. Across the state
in my city, Chicago,
photographer Robert Gurney, , came home
from work and wanted some entertainment.
Gurney felt that what the media gave
him was too unrealistic to be entertaining.
He often said
that even he could do better.
He did.
As Vincenzo heatedly
pointed out,
the Springfield junket
had caused me to miss...
the second brutal b*ating
to occur in two days.
Tony had been forced to send in
someone from the bush leagues.
Okay, Ron, hit the showers.
The first string's here.
It's all over.
The police sh*t the k*ller,
- took him away in an ambulance just before you got here.
- Dead, huh?
Well, you might say he'd done
his last dance around the flagpole.
Well, you might say that,
but I wouldn't.
Okay, Officer,
can you give me the names?
- You trying to be cute?
- No. Do I look cute?
Just give me the names and what instrument
they used to commit the b*ating with.
b*ating?
Look, Jack, I saw it.
The poor victim had his leg
almost torn off.
His leg torn off?
What was his name?
- Robert Gurney, .
- Did he work for O.I.O.?
No, he worked for Macy's Wedding
Portraits. He was a photographer.
What about the k*ller?
Did he work for O.I.O.?
Friend,
the k*ller was a gorilla.
- A g...
- That's right.
I don't know that much about wildlife,
but that's what it was, a gorilla.
Or some kind of big ape.
A... A gorilla?
Good-bye, Carl.
Don't take any wooden bananas.
That was bad, Ron.
That was very bad.
I told you, Mort.
"Put in synthetics," I said.
"Oh, no,"
says Mr. Conrad Hilton.
"I'm renting quality rooms."
- Carl Kolchak, I.N.S.
- Oh.
Oh, well, uh, we live
right down the hall...
from, uh, poor Mr. Gurney.
And, uh, but for the grace of
God, it could have been me...
whose window that thing broke
into, me who could have been k*lled.
- Well, did either of you see the gorilla?
- The gorilla?
Oh, well, Mort was
taking his sitz bath.
- Sitz bath.
- And I heard this terrible ruckus.
Then I called the police. When they
got here, they went to Mr. Gurney's room.
And I heard a scream
and I heard a sh**t.
And, oh, I was just terrified.
I only saw it
for maybe half a second.
- Uh, the gorilla?
- Yeah.
Well, uh, I don't...
I don't know.
- Maybe, but... - Well, what
do you mean "Maybe, but"?
Well, I've seen gorillas
on the Marlin Perkins show.
This was like that, but
it was kind of like a man.
You know, uh, from the
side. Oh, it was awful.
Was it a man
or was it a gorilla?
The police say it was a gorilla.
If the police say it was a
gorilla, then it was a gorilla.
They sh*t it.
They should know.
They are the police.
Yeah.
I've already told you,
Mr. Kolchak.
You cannot see Mr. Kitzmiller
without an appointment.
Well, I called to make an
appointment. You put me on hold.
By the time you came back on
to tell me to call back,
my hair had grown down
over the receiver.
Well, Mr. Kitzmiller
was at a luncheon appointment.
So, what else is new? Someday
there'll be a waiters' strike,
and all the large corporations
in America will just topple.
Now, I can give you an appointment
on the rd, if that's all right, at :.
- Really?
- Yes.
- The rd?
- Yes.
-
- Uh-huh.
No. No, I think I'll wait.
No more stalling around.
- He's in a meeting.
- Yeah, sure, I'll bet.
Do you want an appointment
on the rd or not?
No, I think I'd better go to this
meeting. Act as sort of a consultant.
Mr. Kitz... Mm.
Mr. Kitzmiller
is in the men's room, right?
The meeting is in a restaurant.
Sure.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Mr. Kitzmiller's office.
Oh, Dr. Arscott.
Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. We did
send someone out to the airport to meet you.
Uh, could you hold on
one moment, please?
Good afternoon.
Mr. Kitzmiller's office.
Well, he's not here
at the moment now, Bernice.
Oh. When did this happen?
Uh-huh.
Well, he's with your boss now.
You can reach him there.
Yes, thank you. Bye.
Dr. Arscott, I'm sorry. It's really
quite difficult for me to talk now.
I'll have Mr. Kitzmiller
call you.
Thank you.
So, who's Dr. Arscott, huh?
Some bigwig, supposed to come into
our city and save our fair town? Whew!
I'm very sorry, I don't know
what you're talking about.
And I don't know where you get the idea
that Mr. Kitzmiller has something to hide.
- It is simply that he is very busy.
- Y-Yeah.
He is a vice president
you realize.
Yes, well, that's
what bothers me.
You see, some of our biggest
headaches have come from vice presidents.
Fine.
I guess you'd better get the glazer
down here and fix this window again.
Got another one broken, huh?
Listen, what in the name of all that is
good and holy is going on around here?
Nothing. It's just a little disturbance at
the scene of a previous k*lling, that's all.
- Oh, yeah, sure.
- Do I have your permission to go on with the investigation?
Certainly, Captain, certainly.
Come on, what's going on here?
And when do I get a look
at that dead ape-man?
- What ape-man?
- What ape-man?
Well, you're
a homicide captain, right?
Now, if it's really an ape, why are you
investigating it? Why are you on the case?
- Well, I've got the experience.
- Huh?
- I've had a lot of dealings with baboons.
- Uh-huh.
What baboon?
November , : p.m.,
on Grinell Avenue,
near what used to be
the old Chicago Stadium,
truck driver William Pratt was
angry enough to burn his brake lining.
He had seniority, and he wasn't
supposed to work the night shift.
But his boss had thrown
seniority out the window.
Pratt's head was filled
with thoughts of revenge.
But William Pratt had bigger problems
to worry about than his domineering boss.
Whew!
Hey, look out!
Didn't you use the powerful
stuff? I told you it was big.
What do you have in those darts,
antihistamine? Just to make him drowsy?
Now wait a minute. We don't work
for you. We don't have to listen to this.
- You said you wanted him alive.
- Most of all I wanted him.
Look, you never know how an
animal's gonna react to a tranquilizer.
You give him too big a dose, and
he goes into shock and dies on you.
You heard him in that truck. He
was blood crazy. Metabolism racing.
Did he call the animal by name? I mean,
did he mention what kind of animal it was?
No. You know those guys,
they just squawk into a radio,
and then complain afterwards when
everything doesn't turn out all right.
You know we fired six
tranquilizer darts into that thing?
- That's a pretty big dose. Didn't even faze it.
- Yeah.
No kidding. What kind of
animal do you think it is?
I don't know.
It was too dark.
I don't know who you are,
but I think you're a little crazy,
sh**ting off a flashbulb
in that thing's face like that.
- You could have been m*nled.
- Yeah, but I wasn't, was...
You broke my camera. You ruined
my film. I had pictures of that thing.
- It was just an accident.
- Accident? What kind of an accident is that?
You threw my camera down on the ground.
You danced the Funky Chicken all over it.
Listen, you owe me.
You owe me.
I-I wanna see
a picture of that ape.
I wanna see that ape that you
sh*t over in Gurney's apartment.
I wanna a picture of it. I wanna
look at it. Now you owe me.
You're right, I owe you.
The department will replace...
the camera that
was broken accidentally.
- Just put in your voucher.
- Oh, terrific. That's...
Listen, you're treading on very dangerous
ground, Captain. Very dangerous ground.
Now you saw that thing and I saw
it. And that was not just any ape.
I mean, that wasn't just J. Fred
Muggs out there, dressed in a tutu,
and drooling for the public
and playing on a unicycle.
That was some creature.
Copenik...
Copenik has been working on
some strange new strain of cell...
- they discovered up in the Arctic.
- Is that right?
Yeah, that's right. And those
cells are beginning to grow.
They're millions of years old, and they were
developing them, and they started to grow.
- Now, isn't that strange?
- Well, I'm not a biologist.
I don't know anything about cells. I
don't even know what your problem is.
Well, my problem is the same as your problem
is, Captain. Where is that creature coming from?
- Kolchak.
- Yeah?
Put in your voucher and shut up.
Oh, that's the way you wanna play,
huh? That's the way you wanna play. Okay.
Okay, it's w*r.
I just put the voucher
on your desk.
- Against the wall, huh?
- Well, why?
- Just play a little poke and pat.
- What poke and pat?
- Huh?
- What? What?
Well, thank you very much.
I'll expect payment immediately.
And thank you for the humiliation
you've just put me through.
$.
It was startling. The cells were
frozen. Dead to all appearances.
But when we thawed them,
they not only exhibited life,
they reproduced.
Reproduced?
- That's right. Now they stayed unicellular.
But each cell was multinucleate.
Look, let's not drag me back
into Biology .
What you're talking
about is germs.
Now, what does all this have
to do with these ape-men?
We flew all the way out here
to find that out, Mr. Kitzmiller.
Hopefully we will
if you can contain yourself.
We were gonna publish,
of course.
We were using the cells
just a few at a time,
subjecting them
to a wide variety of tests.
And we finished up the first phase in time
for Jules to go to the conference in Helsinki.
Then we closed up shop
for a while.
Then, two days later, bingo.
I'm in the hospital.
You left the cells that hadn't been
used in the freezing compartment.
Yes, in vacuum lockers.
- What's the matter?
- Well,
the freezing system broke down
about three weeks ago.
I think maybe I missed the point,
if the point is that these germs...
grew into whatever it was
that k*lled Jules Copenik.
They are not germs.
They are single-cell life-forms.
And I'm not about to attest to what
you just said without further study.
That's too bad. Look, folks,
let me tell you something, okay?
I am a very, very good P.R. man.
If the price of gas sh**t up to five
dollars a gallon, I can deal with that.
If San Francisco Bay becomes
one big tar pit because of our oil spills,
I can deal with that.
But, I mean, this...
What can I say about this?
Scientifically, there's
really no precedent for it.
There's no precedent
for anything that's happened.
So don't tell me there's no
precedent. Tell me something useful.
- I'll make all the phone calls that have to be made.
- Mr. Donadio?
- We'll go back to the labs and dig into this, please?
- Are you all right?
I'm taking you and putting you in a
private institution, away from reporters.
Away from everybody.
Not a word.
Not a word about this,
all right?
You're incredible.
Isn't the story in yet?
Relax, Tony, will you? Just relax. New
York's reading the first paragraph right now.
Oh, I still can't believe it.
"Primitive man in our own time."
You know, there are times I gotta
admit it, Carl. You are quite a reporter.
What's the matter? You sick or
something? You never compliment me.
Carl, think of the headlines
of the past. The big headlines.
Now, now, listen, maybe
they'll want a film crew out there.
- What?
- Maybe you'll need a makeup man out there, Carl.
Have you addled your brains completely?
We're not at a television station here.
- You can be a special guest on a television show.
- Not me. No chance.
Wait, it's coming in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
"Cancel story"!
- Oh, I don't believe that.
- What, are they crazy? "Cancel story.
Legal department
will contact you."
- It's a mistake.
- It's a mistake.
Listen, what's going on here?
I mean, was I.N.S. being
undermined by the oil company too?
I can't say, Carl. I've been trying to
contact them. The lines have been tied up.
- Yeah, sure, I'll bet they have.
- Carl, excuse me.
- About that ape-man line you got going.
- Yeah?
Something just happened that I think
may blow the whole thing. It's incredible.
- Well, what? What?
- A friend of mine at the Herald called.
- Yeah?
- Two days ago, there was a truck accident.
A van carrying illegal jungle
animals went off the road.
- The driver just came forward and confessed.
- Confessed to what?
It seems some dangerous
animals did escape,
including two large apes,
a pair of adult African gibbons,
as well as a Malayan tiger,
a civet cat and a pie-cost.
What's a pie-cost?
cents.
Abbott and Costello, .
- I really had you going there.
- Yeah.
Now listen, Carl,
I'm gonna call New York.
Now never mind them and never
mind Harry High School here.
Just keep on the story and
get what you can get, will ya?
- That's terrible.
- Maybe you'll like my second joke better.
Your car is parked
in my place again.
I called the tow truck.
They'll be here any minute.
You know what? I
thought that you'd do that.
I just had a feeling after
you told me the other day.
Well, so five minutes ago, I
asked our janitor here, Georgy,
to take the keys
out of your pocket there,
and go down and move
your car back into your space.
Look.
Keep on truckin', Ron.
Well, this is an emergency.
Break through on 'em. Come on.
- Get through to New York.
- Well, I'm trying to.
No! Wait!
No, no, no!
Yeah.
November , : p.m.
Marquette Street.
Rosetta Mason, , had been
attending a party, but she'd been bored.
Rosetta didn't know it, but for
her, the party was really over.
The m*rder of Rosetta Mason
gave the police no new leads.
But it gave me a photograph of a footprint,
like no footprint I'd ever seen before.
I placed calls to
anthropologists and biologists...
at the major universities,
but again I was put on hold.
I recognized this as the Oceanic
International Oil trademark.
I also recognized that
universities are supported...
by the charity
of large corporations.
But the public school system
is still the public school system.
- Already?
- Uh, Mr. Burton? Carl Kolchak, I.N.S.
Oh, I thought lunch period
was over for a minute there.
Of course, I should have known better.
There would have been more noise, cursing,
things flying through
the air ahead of them.
Oh, you're referring
to your students?
- To use the term very loosely.
- Mmm.
Can you believe
it's only November?
- Mr. Burton, I'd like to ask you a few questions.
- No.
- But you haven't even heard...
- No, I'm sorry, not now.
This is the only time I get
to read my travel brochures.
I have to figure exactly
where I'm going on June .
After school,
it's the science club.
Nights and weekends,
I spend my time going blind...
trying to decipher their chicken
"scrawlings" on their papers and tests.
But this is very important,
Mr. Burton.
Have you heard anything about the rash of
killings that have been blamed on large apes?
That? Oh, yes, yes,
I've heard all right.
Several of my friends
have been called in to consult.
They're Ph.D.s, and they're
so full of self-importance now.
Of course, no one asks
a lowly high school pedagogue.
Who asked your friends? The
oil company? The police? Who?
Oh, they won't say. It's very hush-hush
and cliquey all of the sudden. Huh.
Uh-huh.
- Mr. Burton?
- Yes.
- Sir.
- Yes.
I am now consulting you.
Here, this is a footprint
left by the so-called ape.
Good Lord!
It's larger than any primate
I've ever seen.
And so-called ape is right. This does
not have prehensile toes like true apes.
Hmm, well, I saw the thing. It was
somewhat human in appearance, uh, form.
Yes, but this arch and heel
construction aren't strictly human either.
Well, then it is an ape-man.
That is a misnomer. It shows a
lot of ignorance about evolution.
- Well, I'm sorry.
- No offense.
People keep saying that man
descended from apes.
- Forget you ever heard that.
- Okay, it's forgotten.
You see, man and apes descended
from the same common ancestor.
- Yeah?
- They just went in two different ways.
They're from two different branches of
the same tree, not one continuous branch.
- Oh.
- Hold this. Follow me, please.
- Now, I'll hold this.
- Oh.
- It's expensive. You see the teeth?
- Uh-huh.
All right.
Now this ape's dentition...
is more suited to eating fruits,
vegetables... they're vegetarians.
But, you see, man and all
its ancestors are meat eaters.
We have this ripping,
tearing teeth.
Yeah, well, these creatures
have been eating flesh.
- One of them broke into a meat truck.
- I love my field.
You know, I've collected
all these bones from all over.
I try to teach the kids something but... you
know what they call me behind my back?
- No.
- Bones Burton.
- No.
- Yes.
- Well, Bo... Mr. Burton.
- Yes.
Uh, we are saying then that this
footprint belongs to a prehistoric man?
Come with me.
- All right, this is h*m* erectus.
- Uh-huh.
And his colleague here
is Australopithecus.
- Ah!
- You see, early man, both of them.
Neither had double "E" feet.
Geez, I know that one.
I work for him.
No, well, this creature
probably came from the Arctic.
If he came from the Arctic,
why, he could be anything.
I mean, we know nothing about what
happened up there except that it froze.
Yeah. Well, look here.
See, I took these photos?
See, there you go.
Now, this one here was taken
on the th and this one on the th.
Now you see those
vacuum containers? Upended.
One upended in this picture,
but a second one in this one.
- Yeah. And?
- Well, now, they contained some sort of cells from the Arctic.
Now is it possible that accidental
heat and damp, they could...
- Gestate into the owner of the footprint?
- Yeah.
I doubt that could happen.
But a team of scientists...
recently grew wheat from seeds that
were found in the pyramids of Egypt.
Those seeds
were , years old.
Four thousand years old?
Well, listen, if there were
some new kind of...
Of different strain of primate
man, where would he be?
Well, if he's a voracious
carnivore as you say he is,
then he would probably
also be a nocturnal hunter.
Ah, yeah, that makes sense.
Yeah, he's only been sighted
at night as far as I know.
Yes, and if he's some
deviate cousin of early man,
then he would tend
toward the caves.
Caves? In Chicago?
Terrific.
What's that?
Yeah. You really wanna learn
about ape-men, Mr. Kolchak?
- Uh-huh.
- Stick around.
No, thank you.
Entering O.I.O. labs at night
presented difficulties.
Especially since the guard force
in the lobby had been doubled.
I att*cked the problem with
my brains and my fingernails.
I was getting first-rate copy,
but the story was not complete.
An embryo had not att*cked
people on the streets of Chicago.
A full-grown savage
throwback had done so.
Something not unlike each of us,
and yet vastly different.
I had to have a picture of it.
There are no caves in Chicago.
But the creature has struck in a
rough mile or so radius of O.I.O. labs.
And in that radius used to
stand Chicago Stadium.
It was in the tunnels
under the stadium...
that they did
the first atomic testing...
in those long, dark tunnels.
The stadium is gone now. They've
erected tennis courts and playgrounds.
And nearby,
the Enrico Fermi Institute.
But the tunnels are still there.
Sealed, but there.
No, wait.
It's all right.
It's all right.
No, no, no, it's hot.
Hot. See?
Aah! Aah!
No good.
It's all right.
Just relax.
Friend.
Friend.
Wait! No!
No. No!
The police and the high-priced scientific
help put it together just as I did.
With the proper dosage of tranquilizer,
the creature became manageable.
It's a great word, isn't it?
Manageable.
They took it,
or should I say him,
a few moments ago.
He's gonna be tested,
studied, probed, I imagine.
Captain Molnar
took my camera again,
saying that I was unmanageable.
But I wanna sue to get it back,
and I promised myself that.
And if I do, if I do get it back, and
if Vincenzo will publish the story,
and you see the pictures...
They may not be too good.
They may be blurry. They may
be titillating and not convincing.
You might not really
want to believe them.
But you go ahead.
You believe them.
And ask yourself, "What
happened to him, to it?
"Will he thrive in our hands?
"Is he that much like us?
Will they be able
to make him manageable?"